A Few Thoughts About Teaching Today

I have a few raw thoughts I would like to share about teaching. These thoughts are inclusive of culture, teaching, mind-set, and how to train the mind.

The past weeks I have teaching 5^th through 7^th grade basic formatting skills using Microsoft Word. The students seem to know a few functions, but no teacher has ever explained what each function on the toolbar does and how they are best used. The students have, more or less, used them by smashing the buttons. I additionally gave them abotut 30 vocabulary words to memorize so that they could be more literate in using the computers. So my goal for the past few weeks was to build vocabulary, teach them basic formatting skills and functions, and to practice these actions.

Today after a “pruebita” (quiz) I had an exercise for them to practice the formatting skills for their upcoming Exam. Here is an example of the basic instructions:

1. Bold this line of text. Negrita esta línea de texto. 

2. Underline this line of text. Subrayar esta línea  de texto.

3. Align this line on the right side of the page. Alinear esta línea en el lado derecho de la página. 

Pretty straight forward. These are basic instructions that I had written in both English and Spanish ( in order to eliminate the language barrier). One thing that was frustrating about today was the way the kids seemed to need help at every step of the exercise. Some are so concerned about the way I want it, that they limit their own mind power.  The words, "No puedo" (I can't) seem to echo from their lips. Part of this "incapability" is yes age, another part is culture. In discussing this issue with Mr. Barry he assured me that it is culture for parents to do many things for their children, even up till high school. In a like manner the students desire the teacher to do their work. In addition to culture, the people here are accustomed to taking orders; therefore they desire constant instruction of how to do things rather than of thinking of new creative solutions, or in the case of this exercise simply following directions with their own understanding of how it should be done. 

This was a huge mental block to me today. How come some of these students simply quit? How come they can't simply follow instructions? Why do they feel like they need to make sure every step they do is OK'd by a teacher? I just want them to use their minds to think. I am so used to thinking of new ideas, developing solutions, and to problem solving. This has been the base of my education and I can see more than ever why I should be thankful for the challenges my professors gave to me. They were training my mind.

Today I thought of all my teachers growing up who seemed to love answering my questions with a question. Their answers, at the time were so frustrating. "Can't I just get an answer," I would think. But I see the fruit of their annoying questions now! I see now that my teachers responded to me in this way because they wanted ME to think, they wanted ME to be creative, and they wanted ME to expand my mind. Well now the tables are turned. I am starting to ask these kids questions as an answer to their questions. Let's see if these questions get them to think, expand, and train their minds.

Traveling With My Girl Kristie

Man I love this girl! We have some great times traveling around. What I admire about Kristie most is her positive perspective ON EVERYTHING and in EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE.  Before we left for our trip it was pouring down hard with rain. Her comment was, “I think this is just going to be one of those days.” My response, “Well what do you mean?” Her reply, “One of those days where everything goes wrong.” Because of the gray I couldn’t help but laugh and agree.  Even though it was thought to be a dreary and wet journey to Leon, her attitude was all in.  I have a tendency to think about the bad things for longer periods of time. She however accepts them as reality and chooses to face them with positivity. Our interaction and time together is helping me grow in this way.  Btw, the weather turned out to be sunny that day. Perfect weather for a perfect day!

This was the water bottle that Kristie insisted we turn around in our taxi for. She left it at the hotel. While climbing Mt. Hood Kristie took a 30 ft fall and this water bottle attached to her hip kept her from breaking her leg. It was a sentimental thing. I had to give her a hard time about turning around. So here I am posting about it to the world.

This was in the van packed with 28 people. I think during this photo 4 had left. Personal space is not a thing here. We have to stack our legs in order to fit!  In addition some man's three duffle bags kept me from being able to move. It's quit the trip.

One of my favorite parts of our trip traveling to Leon and back was when we were in a micro bus.  Public transportation is a big thing in Nicaragua considering not many families can afford a car. It cost us 80 cordobas (that is about  $3) to travel from Dolores to Leon (approximately 120 kilometers / about 75 miles) by public transportation. We took micro buses, which are 15 passenger vans.  Even though these buses hold 15 passengers the Nica workers pack as many as they can in order to make the most money. I always like to see how many they can fit, and how many people are wiling to be squashed. This trip back to Leon, 28 fit in the van. It was a record for me :D  It was so packed it was hard for the worker to even shut the door!

This weekend we are traveling to Camoapa, Nicaragua. About 150 km drive by bus, aka a 2.5 hour ride squashed on a school bus ;) We are staying the weekend with two of the teacher's from the school. They live in the In2House with us during the week and then head to their home back in Camoapa on the weekends. I am excited to spend time with Isnia and Indira and to get the opportunity to stay in a real Nicaraguan home.

Pan de Vida and Francela

Instead of telling you what all happened at the Sunday morning church service at Pan de Vida, I would like to share with you what the Lord shared to me during my time there.  I wrote this in my journal during some of the service:

Kristie and I in front of Iglesia Pan de Vida.

What an experience to go to Iglesia Pan de Vida (Bread of Life Church). I am sitting right now in a plastic chair, on concrete, with an open roof, and by the way there is a stray dog roaming around. This church is NOT the building; it IS the people. Here are things that the Lord is speaking to me during my experience right now

• We in America expect to be entertained during worship. There are no instruments, projector, soundboards, or microphones here. BUT THERE IS WORSHIP. There is joyful worship here. Don’t be expecting when worshipping. Instead OFFER your worship. Be reminded also that you can worship God in all circumstances, in any place, and without music.
• There is a freedom here to respond and worship that I wish the churches in the states could worship with. When you go home, worship freely and unrestricted. Be an example of the freedom I have given you.
• The gospel is simple, don’t complicate it.
• Learning to live with little is a gift.

One thing most notable about this service in comparison with the other Nicaraguan churches I have been to, is the way in which Nicaraguans are FREE in their worship. They feel free to wave their hands, to dance, to move out of their seats, and to sing loud in praise.  This may be a theory but I think this may be because they aren’t required to sit still in class either.  Being a teacher in Nicaragua, I was so shocked to see how it isn’t required for students to always sit when the teacher is talking.  Even though there are negatives to this, I see how it has given them a sense of freedom in the things they do including worship. By contrast, we in America are taught and expected to sit, be still, and to be quiet. In a like manner, it seems that these expectations have carried into our style of worship. Feeling more restricted and less freeing.  Again, this is only my hypothesis. This reminded me of Psalm 100:1-2.

Pastor is on the right and translator is on the left. We came to the church with the mission team from the church from Oklahoma. Notice the stray dog laying at the pastor's feet. 

Congregation responding after the service and after the mission team shared their testimonies.

A picture with one of the most thankful ladies I met, Ms. Francela. 

In addition I would like to mention Miss Francela who I met at Iglesia Pan de Vida.

Francela was the most joyous Nicaraguan lady I have met so far. She was the very first lady from Pan de Vida that greeted me.  I sat next to her during the service and began speaking with her in Spanish. She could not read or write and her children neither had a way to learn. I couldn't imagine not even being able to read my own Bible. She however had the glory of the Lord always on her lips. Praise to God continued to show even amongst her circumstances. Francela was joyful with nothing and expressive in her worship. Content in being filled by the Holy Spirit and eager to share this good news with all around her.  

About Voice of Hope

Here I would like to describe how I met Charlie, the director of Voice of Hope and explain a little bit about what Voice of Hope does as a ministry.

I met Charlie Brown on the plane headed from Houston to Managua. I remember finally sitting in my seat and realizing that I was by myself headed to a foreign country. The previous busy month inclusive of graduating college, having all of my family in town for Christmas, going to my Uncle’s wedding, and entering into a new relationship with my wonderful boyfriend Garret were all joyful, exciting things happening in my life, however because of them I hadn’t taken the moment to think of traveling alone to a foreign country. Therefore when I finally sat in my seat was when it all finally sunk in. I remember a bit of fear striking me. It was however in this very moment that Charlie Brown introduced himself as part of a team from Voice of Hope and also asked about me.  He was eager to share the gospel and asked me about my testimony. This is definitely a man who is ready at any moment to share the gospel—just like it should be! Anyways during that time I remember feeling more secure knowing that God had surrounded me with my brothers in Christ. This was comforting to know that I wouldn’t be alone when stepping off the plane.

During our conversation Charlie had invited Kristie and I to come check out Voice of Hope in Leon. I knew this would be a great opportunity to see another ministry taking place in Nicaragua. So this past weekend was our chance to go.

Kristie and I spent two days in Leon. Saturday, March 14^th we arrived. Upon arriving at the hotel the ministry is operated out of, we had lunch and then were off to touring the feeding centers. Two pastors from a church in Arkansas had also come to visit for the week to see if this was a ministry that their church wanted to partner with. Because Charlie was giving them a full tour of their ministry, this allowed Kristie and I to see in detail all that the ministry does as well. 

Here is the gang that we traveled with. Great crew! The mission statement of Voice of Hope is on the poster behind us.

Everyone meet Rocky! He was my pal while hanging out at the Hotel. He is three months and has SHARP sharp teeth :D

Voice of Hope has seven active feeding centers and is in the process of building four more.  The feeding centers are small buildings made out of cinder blocks and are built approximately 10’ x 12’.  Each kitchen has a wood burning stove, two metal kettle bowls, and approximately 5 to 7 large utensils like a spatula, knife, and ladle. These feeding centers have been placed in extremely poor communities where families live in tin roof houses, can’t afford to send their children to school, receive water from a well, and well can barely afford food. Voice of Hope has also worked to build a church shelter right next to every feeding center. This is really just a roof over a concrete slab.

How the system works. Voice of Hope partners with churches back in the United States, asking them to support the children in Nicaragua to be fed. I think it takes about $40 to feed one of these children for a year. This money then goes to buy the food to be taken to the feeding centers. Supported children receive a card, bring that card to the feeding center, and are able to receive one meal per day. On average each feeding center serves about 150 children per day. This becomes an opportunity for the ministry to share the gospel.

Churches who support Voice of Hope typically have mission teams come for one week to have evangelical events at the feeding center and church that they individually support. Actually late Saturday night, a team from a church in Oklahoma had come in for the week.  We got to meet all 20 of them Sunday morning as we all headed to Pan de Vida. The church Pan de Vida was the church connected to one of the feeding centers. This “pair” or “unit” was one that the team from the First Baptist Church in Oklahoma has been supporting for four year now.  Therefore their interaction with the community was familiar. The rest of their week would include fiestas that they put on with the kids and families of the community, inclusive of games and prizes. This will act as an opportunity for them to interact and to share the gospel with these communities.

Here is a picture inside of the feeding center. Large industrial size kettles and spatulas. The stove is on Kristie's left.

Here is what a typical church connected to the feeding centers looks like. The lady was watering the concrete to keep the dust down.

That is Voice of Hope in a nutshell. When touring all of these shelters one thing that stuck out the most to me was Charlie’s iteration of how simple the gospel is, and how simple it should be shared.  It doesn’t need to take much to share the love of Christ. Why do we make it such a complicated thing?

Here is a typical house in the communities where we were visiting. 

Journey to Leon Highlights

Saturday, March 15^th was one of the best days I have had in Nicaragua for a few specific reasons. This past weekend Kristie and I took a trip to Leon, Nicaragua to visit Voice of Hope ministry.  This ministry is directed by Mr. Charlie Brown one of the men I had met on the plane from Houston to Nicaragua. During our conversation on the plane we talked about what each other were doing in Nicaragua. I shared about me teaching and he shared about Voice of Hope. During that conversation he extended an offer to come up for a weekend to check out the ministry in Leon. So this was the weekend we did just that! Because I experienced so much in a short period of time I have decided to break up the things that I experienced and blog about them individually. Here I will share with you the two reasons that made this weekend one of the best.

Reason #1 for those who know me well you know that I am deeply passionate about water and working towards pursuing missions with WATER. In other words I would love to help provide clean water to those in need in order to share with them The Living Water: the gospel. Saturday part of this vision came true! In one of the remote poor villages were were touring I saw a well that had been installed by the mission organization Living Water International (a Christian ministry I have been in contact with). I got to pump water out of one of the wells with some kids from the village.

This is one of four wells I got to see in the outskirts of Leon. This was part of the dream come true! (Btw the taxi in the back is ours. These people barely have food and water, let alone cars.)

Reason #2 while in Leon and going out to dinner I saw a group of students from non-other than Baylor University! One of the girls in the restaurant walked in with a T-shirt that Baylor Outdoor Adventure had made for an event. (This was the department I worked for at Baylor). It was surreal! I took a Sic 'Em picture with a handful of girls from the group. We got to talk about their trip here in Nicaragua as part of a medical mission trip during their spring break (they were all Baylor pre-med students). They asked me about my journey in Nicaragua and so I shared with them about what I am doing here and also about my vision for water ministry. I then got to pray over them and for the Lord to use their experiences here to inspire them in what they are pursing back home at Baylor. This was a special moment. All this was in the heart of Leon with large beautiful cathedrals.

It always makes me feel at home to do a Sic 'Em! I got to pray over these girls too.

The second oldest Cathedral in all of Central America.

I would also like you all to watch this video about Voice of Hope. It will give you an image to some of the things I got to see and experience. I posted the video before this post.

Voice of Hope Video

Here is a video about Voice of Hope ministry in Leon. A glimpse of what I got to see and experience during my weekend.

San Juan del Sur

So much has happened in the past two weeks! Here I would like to share with you Kristie and my adventure to San Juan del Sur. Two weekends ago we had an extra Friday of teaching off. We took full advantage of the weekend and left on Thursday afternoon after classes to head south to San Juan del Sur. This is a popular destination for tourists and is also a location that Kristie and I had been to before. We were most excited for the surfing!

We stayed at Hostel Yajur, a surfing hostel that I had remembered and wanted to stay at from my visit down here two years ago. The hostel was everything surf, creating a fun and relaxing environment, and to our advantage cost only $10 a night. Here we met friends from all over the country: Bulgaria, Canada, England, Venezuela, America, and France. We hung out with these friends Thursday night and Saturday night before we came back to the school on Sunday.

Kristie and I hit the beach early Friday morning, and took a local charter bus to go to the hot surfing spot of Playa Maderas. When I say local charter bus, think outside of the box. WE were in the back of a truck with a wooden bench in the back to sit. (These informalities have become normal for me). When arriving at the beach Kristie and I rented a board each and surfed the day away.

As the sun began to set we waded in the water to watch it go down in bliss. I couldn’t help but to reminisce and soak up the surf, the fact that I am traveling with a best friend, and all the blessings under the sun. In this moment I was rudely interrupted. As I was floating with my feet in the water a STING RAY stung my foot! I was talking to someone in the water and all of a sudden I felt the sting. I rushed back to the beach not knowing what had just happened to me. A local explained to me it was a sting. I was a bit frightened at first. The veins in my foot began to bulge and the pain began to radiate. They told me to soak my foot in hot water in order to break down the protein in the venom. It was so painful but after about 2 hours of soaking my foot was relieved. I was back to surfing the next day.

Kristie and I camped at Playa Maderas on Friday night. We hammock camped so that we could get the best waves at 9 am Saturday morning. I can’t say it was a terribly comfortable sleep this time. Unfortunately neither of us had a wind block and we didn’t seem to think about a light blanket to bring to sleep with. In all it was an adventure, just like we wanted…and it cost only $3 to sleep there. Great for our tight budget ;)

Surfing on Saturday was again a blast! Thankfully the sting rays stayed away from me that time. After another full day of surf we headed back to San Juan del Sur (only a 15 min truck ride) to stay at our Hostel once again. That night everyone from the Hostel had a bon fire right on the beach where the hostel was located. During this time students from Canada were interviewing everyone around the camp fire. They are a student group who has set out to create a pilot project TV show. They desire to travel the world asking and telling stories about those who are traveling and about their experiences. Again it was so cool to meet and greet people from all over the world with many different backgrounds. One was a cruise ship pilot in training, another had drove his motorcycle from Canada all the way to Nicaragua (and will continue south), another girl was previously a stunt woman in air shows (as in she does flips and tricks on the old double winged planes in the air), two girls from England had just graduated high school and were traveling Central America, a yoga instructor, surf instructor, and so many more!

It was so rejuvenating to take some time away from the school and to get our adventure bugs out of us for a bit of time. It rejuvenated our souls, but by the end our bodies were beat….and burnt ;)

Welcome to Hostel Yajure :)

Here is a giant hammock on the top balcony of the hostel. Perfect for chillaxin'!

Front entrance has a fun and beachy ambiance

Orange bike on the left is the one the guy from Canada had driven all the way down to Nicaragua.

Hammock camping at Playa Maderas

Kristie and I took a little adventure hike at Playa Maderas. Here is a snap shot of the look out.

One of the surfers left their dog tied up for a bit while they were in the water. Us two girls melted over this cute puppy ;) 

I love surfing!

Right before I got stung by the Sting Ray. Loved this moment.